Elmgrove Foods Claim UTV Business Eye Award

The title of Company of the Year has been presented to private health provider 3fivetwo Group at the 2013 UTV Business Eye Awards.

The awards, now in their seventh year, were presented at a gala event held at the Culloden Estate & Spa on Thursday evening.

3fivetwo Group, which opened the brand new Kingsbridge Private Hospital on Belfast's Lisburn Road less than two years ago, claimed the top prize.

The company has grown from small beginnings as a Belfast clinic into a multi-million pound turnover operation - with 18 sites and 240 employees.

Meanwhile the Chief Executive of another fast-expanding company, Eleanor McEvoy of Budget Energy, was named as Business Personality of the Year.

A serial entrepreneur, she has guided the rapid growth of the Derry-based electricity provider which has doubled its customer base in less than 12 months.

Other key winners on the night included SME of the Year Elmgrove Foods, an innovative Dungannon-based meat processing firm, and International Award winner Lagan Construction, one of our leading building firms and responsible for major projects worldwide.

Michael Wilson, Managing Director of UTV Television, said: "The calibre of entries for this year's awards show that there are plenty of ambitious, confident and well led companies operating in Northern Ireland.

"UTV is delighted once again to recognise and celebrate these top achievers and organisations in such a positive way. These awards represent all that is good about business in NI and it is great to see growth and success in so many sectors in spite of the tough times."